Keep attacking girls and try not to be killed by them

(Jiang Ran: You're overthinking it, silly loli... My life span is shortened not because I can't argue with you, but because you haven't made any progress at all, and you've made me so angry that my life span has shortened.)

(Stupid Loli: Who, who hasn’t improved?! I’m just being soft on you. If I, if I get serious, I’ll be a super-skilled eagle!)

Under Jiang Ran's provocation, the stupid loli turned into a machine gun and kept talking non-stop. Her clumsy and angry look was really a "good snack" for Jiang Ran to entertain and relax.

But to be honest, Jiang Ran actually felt that the silly loli still had some room for growth. Apart from anything else, just her bickering skills required Jiang Ran to put in some effort to trip her up.

But this also raises a question, which is why stupid loli is "weak and easy to grow" like a child.

·

Jiang Ran still remembered that when he first met the stupid loli, she called herself "Lord Prigok Nissen, the Eye of Super Dimension". In other words, she might be a concept similar to the "personality" of the Eye of Super Dimension.

However, the super-dimensional divine eye was the "right eye of the good god". At that time, in that gray-white mysterious space, Jiang Ran actually saw the eyeball like a golden gem fly out of the eye socket of the good god and then squeeze into his right eye.

Judging from this fact, the silly loli should be a part of the "good god", but Jiang Ran has not yet felt or observed any clues that can serve as evidence. Instead, the silly and cute behavior of the silly loli is increasingly unrelated to the unattainable concept of "good god".

Who exactly is this silly little girl, or rather, Prigok Nissen? What is her relationship with the Good God? Why does a "wise old woman" like her, who should be of great age, always "act" like a child and has done nothing so far?

Jiang Ran still has many questions about the stupid loli, but now is not the time to confront the stupid loli head-on.

As long as they are still in a "community of interests", this relationship of both enemies and friends can continue.

·

·

In the darkness of night, Jiang Ran was still walking quickly in the wilderness.

Although he was just walking, the speed of this young man, who had reached the fifth level of strength and was more agile than could be described as "walking".

According to Jiang Ran's current speed, as long as he gets some sleep tomorrow and travels for half a day, he will basically be able to reach Yanji City.

As for why he still hadn't found a place to sleep even though it was almost midnight, it was because he was very concerned about the "strange phenomenon" that appeared in the distant night sky not long ago.

·

The so-called "phenomenon" refers to the sudden appearance of blazing flames in the night sky.

Even in the Prison Star World, it is impossible for fire to rain from the sky for no reason. The reason for the "strange phenomenon" can only be that there are people or monsters fighting there.

Normally, Jiang Ran doesn't like to join in the fun, and he doesn't like to cause trouble. However, he now has a "slightly special need", which is to defeat high-level monsters and raise his level.

Because of the "class experience penalty" mechanism in the Prison Star World, Jiang Ran, who has now reached the fifth level, must at least fight against fourth-level humans or monsters to gain experience points, and the experience points are halved.

If the opponent is level three or below, Jiang Ran will not get any experience points.

Affected by this punishment mechanism, Jiang Ran had not encountered any valuable experience packs in the relatively peaceful Kingdom of West for a long time, so he became interested in the rain of fire in the night sky.

Anyone who can create a rain of fire on this scale must be very powerful.

As long as he can continue to improve his level of strength before arriving at Yanji City, no matter how much, even if it is only one level, Jiang Ran is willing to try his best.

After all, in addition to Viviana, who might have murderous intentions towards him, the strong men of the Feiqi family are also "waiting" for him in Yanji City.

A cautious person like Jiang Ran would never let his guard down just because Lord Feiqi might not be in Yanji City.

——(I’ve decided. I’ll find a place to take a short nap first, and then go over there as soon as the sun rises.)

Jiang Ran noted down the general location of the rain of fire, and then found a secluded place nearby to hide and sleep for the night.

·

The next day, just after dawn, the stupid lolita alarm clock woke Jiang Ran up as instructed.

Jiang Ran improved his skill proficiency and consumed his magic power while eating some dry food and then set off.

It was almost noon when Jiang Ran finally arrived at the place where the fire rain fell last night. It was a junction of mountains and plains, with a wide river not far away... But apart from some traces of fighting and explosions, there were no monsters living nearby.

Jiang Ran made good use of the identification ability of his super-dimensional divine eyes, looking around, and soon found a very valuable "stone" - because the result of the identification of this stone was "a fragment of a granite monolith."

(There really was a battle here last night...)

Taking this clue as the starting point, Jiang Ran searched for clues along the way, not letting go of anything suspicious, and finally came to a suspected abandoned mine.

·

"The area ahead is... the Feiqi family's southern mine... No entry without permission..."

Jiang Ran found several cracked notice boards on the ground, and after piecing them together, he got the sentence he had just read out.

Judging from the location of the crack on the signboard, Jiang Ran judged that it had been destroyed only a few days ago. Looking at the growth of weeds in the mine and the rust and corrosion of metal equipment, the mine should have been abandoned not long ago.

So, what caused the mine to be abandoned?

Was it the rain of fire last night?

No, Jiang Ran didn't think so, because if it happened just last night, the mine wouldn't be so desolate.

However, judging from the damage to the facilities in various parts of the mine, Jiang Ran believed that it was most likely the work of monsters, and these monsters might be related to last night's rain of fire.

At this time, the sultry midday wind blew through the mine, stirring up some sand and dust, and the air was filled with the unique "metal" smell of the mine.

Jiang Ran smelled it and thought it smelled pretty good, because... it was the smell of experience.

9.79 - Operation Begins

The reason why Jiang Ran thought there might be "experience points" was mainly because this was the Feiqi family's mine.

The Feiqi family, as one of the five major families in the Kingdom of West, should not allow its own mine to be attacked by monsters. After all, in any world, mines are linked to wealth, and which family would have a problem with money?

However, this southern mine had obviously been attacked for some time, and the location of the mine was not too far from the main city of the Feiqi family, "Yanji City". However, the Feiqi family had not yet recaptured it. This was enough to show that it was not that the Feiqi family did not want to recapture it, but that they could not do it for the time being.

So, it seems that there is a high possibility that there are powerful monsters near this mine.

Now, Jiang Ran needs to judge what kind of monsters he will deal with next, how many there are, and whether they live in the mine or near the mine.

For safety reasons, Jiang Ran did not rush into the mine directly, but first found a jay in the nearby mountains and forests.

Although the jay's name contains the word "crow", its body size is much smaller than that of a crow, only the size of an adult's fist.

However, despite its small size, it is quite flexible in flying and can fly up to forty or fifty meters in the air, which is equivalent to the height of about fifteen floors of a human building.

[img=1253,812]https://rss.sfacg.com/web/novel/images/UploadPic/2023/08/d96acc6a-dd53-4adc-9f0b-14c904de58d0.jpg[/img]

[Image source from the Internet, please delete if infringed]

Through the skill "Concentrated Mind·Perception", Jiang Ran easily caught this cute jay, and then used the skill "Trickster·Word Spirit" to turn it into a "little pet" that obeyed his orders.

[Note: "Concentrated Mind·Perception", can sense the breath of weak creatures around]

After making all the preparations, Jiang Ran activated his skill "Shadow Master" to sneak into the shadow of the jay, and then ordered the jay to fly into the mine. He visited most places except the interior of the mine, and had a general understanding of the basic situation of the entire mine.

·

·

(The results of the investigation are basically consistent with expectations... It seems that the truly powerful guy should be "hiding" in the mine.)

After returning to the forest, Jiang Ran released the jay, found a place to sit down and began to organize the information he had just obtained.

First, around the mine, there are nine large third-level monsters hidden, called Granite Monoliths.

These stone giants are fitted into the mine in all sorts of bizarre positions. If Jiang Ran didn't have the ability to identify them, he really wouldn't be able to find them.

However, Jiang Ran had no interest in them, because the experience points he could gain from killing a third-level monster were zero, so there was no need to waste his physical strength and magic power on these thick-skinned guys.

Secondly, Jiang Ran also found a lot of "little stone worms" hiding in the shadows of the mine and near the mine entrance.

The full name of these small stone worms is "Quadruple-legged Stone Worms". They are only at the first level in strength, but their advantage lies in their huge numbers. They are as black as a swarm of insects.

Jiang Ran felt particularly strange about one thing about them. No matter which of the "four-legged stone worms" he used the skill "Shadow Stealing", he could not steal the skill. Could it be that these "four-legged stone worms" had no skills?

(Wait, could it be that the 'Quadruped Stoneworms' that used their skills are already dead?)

Jiang Ran had no evidence, just a guess.

If the only skill of a first-level "Quadruped Stoneworm" is that it will definitely cause its own death after using it, then based on Jiang Ran's knowledge, this skill is very likely to cause self-destruction.

(If such a large number of "Quadruped Stoneworms" rushed over and exploded simultaneously... the danger might be even greater than those third-level giant stone statues...)

Imagining that terrifying scene, Jiang Ran deeply engraved the danger of the "four-legged stone worms" into his mind and would never underestimate them just because they were small and weak.

If a fifth-level warrior like him were to be defeated by these first-level suicide bugs, it would be a disgrace to the entire earth.

·

At this point in the analysis, Jiang Ran has completed all the information he had just obtained. What remains is to see what is hidden in those unexplorable mines.

So, do we need to go into the mine again to investigate?

If there were no monsters of level four or above hidden in the mine, the Feiqi family's southern mine would be worthless to Jiang Ran. There was no need to waste energy on dealing with the monsters for them. He could just turn around and leave.

However, Jiang Ran really couldn't go into the mine to investigate again. It wasn't because he couldn't do it, but because it was a bit impractical.

For Jiang Ran, if he wanted to enter the mine to explore, it would definitely take a lot of time, and a lot of time means consuming a lot of magic power.

If Jiang Ran had already used up most of his magic power during the reconnaissance phase, he would have to postpone the monster-slaying until tomorrow. This would delay him by one more day, making his next plan in Yanji City difficult to implement.

(High risk, high reward... In that case, let's take a tentative gamble with a small amount of chips to see if we can win.)

Jiang Ran thought about it for a moment and soon came up with an idea.

Taking this opportunity, he can experiment with his "new fighting style" in actual combat.

·

·

The combat plan that Jiang Ran decided to use was, in simple terms, to fight while conducting reconnaissance, and to avoid unnecessary battles as much as possible.

If he found that there were indeed no monsters of level 4 or above in the mine, he would just abandon this mess and leave;

And if the situation is not right, for example, if a strong enemy appears that is difficult to deal with in a mine environment, he can also choose to retreat - "As everyone knows", running away has always been Jiang Ran's strong point.

This combat plan is basically consistent with Jiang Ran's previous style, but there is one difference this time. Jiang Ran's own "real body" will not "appear" on the front battlefield.

When Jiang Ran first fought against Mishasha of the Endless Abyss, he was cursed permanently by the disgusting skill "Maelstrom of Fate", called "The Hermit's Crown of Thorns".

The effect of this curse is that if Jiang Ran's presence is discovered by the enemy, the damage he causes will be halved, but if he is not discovered, the damage caused will increase by 50%.

This time, in order to make the curse that has been dragging him down for so long play a positive role, Jiang Ran specially designed a "new fighting style". The rest depends on whether the performance in actual combat is consistent with his previous experimental results.

·

·

It was exactly twelve noon, the sun was high in the sky, scorching the earth.

Outside the stuffy mine, three "uninvited guests" came.

At first glance, these three uninvited guests appear to be "people," but upon closer inspection, one discovers that they are not humans, but rather "shadow monsters" in human form.

The three shadows looked exactly the same, and it was difficult to tell the difference between the individuals. The only difference was in their equipment.

The leading black figure carried a mighty beast-horn giant sword on his shoulder, looking menacing, as if he would rush forward and strike the enemy with a sword the moment he saw them.

The black shadow in the middle held a knight's sword burning with blue flames in his reverse grip, his stance cautious, like a taut spring, ready to burst out with powerful force at any moment;

Only the black shadow following at the end was a bit lame. For some reason, he only had a scabbard hanging around his waist. He had the least presence among the three black shadows. There was even a dragonfly that "don't know what to do" and landed on his shoulder, moving forward with him as he walked.

After the three dark shadows entered the mine, the granite statues hidden outside the mine began to move quietly, blocking the intruders' retreat route.

The four-legged stone worms hiding in the shadows also took action, gradually forming an encirclement to kill all the intruders.

However, the monsters' disciplined fighting style was not spontaneous, but rather the result of the "guy behind the scenes" constantly issuing orders, which allowed them to perform to such a high level.

However, what the "mastermind" did not expect was that the leading black shadow actually took the initiative and swung the giant beast-horn sword violently, smashing it heavily on the rock wall at the entrance of the mine. This immediately caused the rock to collapse, blocking the exit of the mine tightly, and killing the four-legged stone insects hiding near the entrance of the mine directly.

——(Interesting… So he wasn't just passing by, but came specifically to cause trouble for us…)

The mastermind felt the massive deaths of his fellow countrymen and began to chew his fingernails anxiously.

"Fortunately," after swallowing the bitten fingernail, she was no longer so anxious. She even felt a little happy when she thought about the miserable death of these guys.

——(In that case… regardless of whether you’re human or ghost, all of you should die in the mines, hehe?~)

9.80 - Behind the Scenes

With the collapse of the mine entrance, the originally quiet southern mine of the Feiqi family suddenly became noisy.

The four-legged stone worms hiding in the shadows crawled out as quickly as cockroaches, gathering at an alarming speed and trying to surround the intruders in the mine!

On the other side, the giant granite statues that had previously merged with the mine also stood up one after another, and their steps made the entire mine shake.